


A New Assistant Principal

by ecaracap



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Alternate Universe - School, Community: 1-million-words, Gen, M/M, Teaching, Tutoring
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-05 11:56:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4178934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ecaracap/pseuds/ecaracap
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a new high school assistant principal - Oliver Hampton - and history teacher Connor can't stop thinking about him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting the Assistant Principal

“Where’d this guy come from anyway?” Michaela leans over to where the group of them are sitting in the auditorium.

“Somewhere down south, I think,” Wes answers, looking back to the doors to see if anyone is coming yet.

“He’s from Virginia,” Laurel says absently, looking through a stack of papers she has on her lap, “Near Alexandria.”

“Great. They don’t even have the Common Core down there. He won’t even know what we do,” Michaela says bitterly.

“That doesn’t even affect you at all, Pratt,” Connor says, rolling his eyes.

“Attention,” Principal Keating says as she steps up to the mic on stage, addressing all of them, “This is going to be a short meeting, with a brief meet and greet afterward. As you know, we have a new assistant principal here at the high school. Oliver Hampton.” She extends her hand and a rather young guy with glasses steps out, waving to all of them.

The young assistant principal comes to the mic as Annalise hands it to him, “Hello, all. My name is Oliver Hampton. I come to you from Alexandria City Schools down in Virginia. It’s such a pleasure to be here with you all. I’m looking forward to this year. I’ll be here at the front of the stage if you have any questions for me.” He hands the mic back to Principal Keating, waving awkwardly again to everyone as he walks off the stage.

Connor just stares at the young man as he walks down to the front of the stage, some of the older teachers milling around, going to go speak to him. Connor wants to as well, but not here. In fact, he wouldn’t have minded if this was a bar and this new assistant principal was just another drunk guy he could hit on.

“He seems young,” Laurel says critically, as she also peers at Oliver as he talks.

“He _is_ young,” Michaela says with a nod, getting up to go back to her classroom. She looks back to Connor, who is still staring at the front of the stage. “Are you coming, Walsh?”

“Yeah,” he says, pulling himself out of his reverie, “I’m coming.” But as they head out, he can’t help but look back to see Mr. Hampton smiling and chatting happily away with all the teachers. He knew he had to go talk to him sometime.


	2. Office Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New assistant principal Oliver calls Connor down to his office for a meeting.

“Please, come in, Mr. Walsh,” Oliver says politely, motioning towards the chair, “Have a seat.”

Connor gives the new assistant principal a stiff smile, before coming in and having a seat. He was admittedly a little nervous when he got the call that Mr. Hampton wanted to see him, but it was still only their teacher work days - he couldn’t have done something _that_ bad yet.

“I wanted to get a chance to talk to each of the teacher’s individually,” Mr. Hampton goes on, folding his hands in front of him, giving Connor a warm smile, “Get to know them. Answer any questions or concerns they might have.”

“Oh,” Connor says, relaxing in his seat now that he knows he’s not in trouble, “I don’t really have any questions…”

“Then tell me a bit about yourself,” Oliver says with a smile.

Connor would swear that this guy was flirting with him, being way too nice for this kind of situation, but he bets Mr. Hampton is this nice with everyone, “Um…well, I went to Columbia. Studied history there. Got my masters at Middleton. Then came here. I’ve been teaching here for about two years now.”

Oliver nods as the man speaks, looking down at some papers in front of him, “Sounds great. Your scores from the past two years are quite good. The students must learn a lot from you.”

“I think they do,” Connor says with a slightly proud smile.

“We’re going to be focusing a lot on relationships this year,” Mr. Hampton tells him. 

Connor just stares at him for a moment, his eyebrows taught in confusion. This guy couldn’t be hitting on him here? That would be too strange. “Yeah…?” Connor mumbles.

Oliver nods again, “Yes. I brought it up to Mrs. Keating and she agrees. We think the students learn better when they learn from someone they like. And the best way to get students on your side is to form a strong relationship with them.”

Connor feels a little dumb for thinking he meant a relationship with him - of course, he was talking about relationships with the students, “Oh, yeah. I think I always have good relationships…”

“Good,” Mr. Hampton says with a pleased smile, “Then you’ll have no trouble at all this year.”

“Thanks,” Connor says with a slight nod as he gets up to leave. He runs a hand over his face as he goes, knowing he’s got to get this guy out of his mind before he says something he might regret.


	3. New Students

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor's year isn't starting out quite the way he wants it to.

It was only the first week of school and Connor was already on edge. Though admittedly, the first and last weeks of school were the most stressful for him. At the end of the day on Friday, Connor sat in his room with his head in his hands. There were papers all on the floor already, stacks of forms sat skewed on his desk and he had a headache to boot. He thought he would go home and pour himself a nice glass of scotch to dull the ache a bit.

“Hey.”

Connor pops his head up, too quickly, at the voice coming from his door - Mr. Hampton. “Oh,” he says, forcing a pleasant smile, “Hey.”

“How are you doing?” he asks, stepping into the classroom, taking a look around.

“Oh, I’m…fine,” Connor says, trying to straighten up the papers on his desk, not wanting to look like he always kept his room this messy.

“Are you sure?” Oliver asks, sounding more concerned. He comes to sit down on the edge of the desk right in front of Connor’s desk, crossing his arms.

Connor furrows his brow. Had Mr. Hampton heard something already about his kids? Things weren’t going quite as well as he had hoped with one class in particular, “Well, I mean…things are always hectic at the beginning of the year.”

“Mmhmm,” Oliver nods understandingly, “I hear you have some ringers in your class.”

“Yeah…” Connor concedes, “My class before lunch. There’s a lot of…big personalities in there.”

“You don’t have to gloss it over. I know they’re a lot to handle.”

“Kind of…” Connor says gently, not wanting Oliver to think he can’t do his job properly.

“Well, if you ever need my help, you know how to reach me,” Oliver says with a pleasant smile before he turns to leave.

Connor puts his head in his hands again and sighs. Things were not going his way this year at all.


	4. After-School Tutoring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Michaela discuss Mr. Hampton during their after-school tutoring session.

Connor had gotten conned into doing after school tutoring by Mrs. Keating - he had no idea how she always got him to do everything for her. He guessed it was a part of her power. Luckily, Michaela also got conned into it and of all the teachers he worked with, he probably hated Michaela the least.

After school on Tuesday, the two of them had arranged all of their tutoring students in Connor’s room as they worked on their homework. Soon after they began, Mr. Hampton came to Connor’s room to check in on them. 

“Hey,” Oliver says to everyone happily, “How are we doing?” The students mumble a general _Fine_ as Mr. Hampton turns his attention to Michaela and Connor sitting together at a desk on the side of the room. Connor straightens up a bit, smiling back at Oliver - he’s never liked visits from administration in the past, but he doesn’t actually mind when Mr. Hampton comes to his room.

“How are things going with them?” Oliver inquires of the two teachers.

“Fine,” Michaela says pleasantly, but professionally. 

“Yeah,” Connor says, “They’re finishing up their homework now. Once they’re done, we go over it with them.”

“Good,” Oliver says with a nod, “It’s good that they’re able to get some extra time in with their teachers. It’s important that they get that time to build relationships.” He gives both of them a smile before he heads back out.

Connor watches him go a little too long, Michaela hitting his arm to pull him out of his reverie. “Oh my god,” she whispers, “You were staring at his ass.”

“He has a nice ass,” Connor says with a slight smile, “The least I can do is be able to stare at him as he leaves.”

“The least you can do is ask him out to dinner,” she says simply.

Connor gives her a strange look, shaking his head, “I can’t ask him out to dinner.”

“Why not?”

“For one, he’s my boss,” Connor says, giving her a pointed look.

She shrugs, “He’s not _technically_ your boss. Mrs. Keating is your boss. Actually, the school board is your boss…”

“You know what I mean, Michaela,” Connor says, rolling his eyes, “I don’t even know if he’s gay.”

Michaela barks out a laugh, causing the kids to give her a look, “Seriously? Of course he is.”

“You don’t know that,” Connor answers, shaking his head.

“You need better gaydar, Connor,” she says, patting his hand, “He’s definitely gay. You should ask him out. At least for coffee.”

“I don’t think I can…”

“I dare you,” Michaela says with a devious grin.

“What are we? 15 years old?” Connor says, raising his eyebrows.

“No. But I know you won’t do it without a little push.”

Connor sighs deeply. He wouldn’t mind going out on a date with Oliver. But he also would like to keep his job. He figures coffee would be a safe bet. He could make up some excuse that he wants to pick Oliver’s brain about the curriculum or something if it turns out he’s not gay.

“Fine, fine,” Connor agrees, “I guess I’ll ask him out for coffee…”

“Good,” Michaela says with a definitive nod, “You’re going to tell me all about it."


	5. A Little Grading

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor gets a visitor and a proposition when he tries to get some grading done.

If there’s one thing in teaching that Connor’s not very good at it’s grading. He leaves it until the very last minute, consistently forgets to give his students back their work and it always takes him forever.

So here he sits in his room, some light music playing over the speakers as he catches up on his grading. Connor wonders why he even bothers to give unit tests if it means he has to sit here and grade them. Especially these short answer questions…who ever thought short answer questions were useful?

He’s so engrossed in the grading he doesn’t notice when Oliver sneaks in slowly, taking a moment to simply watch Connor before he clears his throat. Connor looks up, slightly surprised, but he just smiles - over the past few weeks, he’s gotten used to Mr. Hampton sneaking into his room to talk about one thing or another. At first, he was nervous that maybe the administration was keeping a closer eye on him. But since his talk with Michaela, he wonders if she might have been right about Oliver.

“Hey,” Connor says easily.

“Hey,” Oliver says, coming to sit down on one of the desks in front of Connor’s desk, “Catching up on your grading?”

“Yeah,” he grumbles, “I’m pretty bad about keeping up on it.”

“I’ve noticed,” Oliver says, nodding towards the giant stacks of paper.

Connor chuckles, “It’s just hard to motive myself to want to grade these unit tests. They’re so long.”

“Well, you’re the one that created them,” Oliver tells him, “You didn’t have to make them that long.”

“That’s kind of the point of a unit test, isn’t it? To go over the unit?” Connor says with a smile.

“That’s true,” Oliver says with a nod. Connor goes back to briefly looking over some of the questions on the test as Oliver just watches him contentedly. “Mr. Walsh,” Oliver begins, before switching, “Connor. I know this is a little unethical…and I don’t mean to be offensive at all, so please don’t take it that way.”

“Alright…” Connor says slowly - he wonders if might actually be in trouble this time as he finds himself sometimes.

“Would you…like to have dinner with me?” Oliver says with a slight, nervous smile. It’s clear to Connor that Mr. Hampton is trying to play it cool, keep the professional demeanor he always does. 

“Dinner?” Connor says, confused, but pleased.

“Yes,” Oliver says again, blushing a bit now, something Connor had never seen him do, “It…can be as professional as you would like it to be. I enjoy your company and I thought it would be nice to get to know you better outside of school. And outside of being in charge of you.”

Connor can’t help but grin. He liked the sound of this: dinner, perhaps an unprofessional dinner. He wouldn’t mind being a little unprofessional with Mr. Hampton. “Sure,” Connor says with a pleased smile, “Dinner."


	6. Italian Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Oliver head out to dinner together.

Connor suggests a little Italian place not far from school. He realizes only afterwards that even though he lives relatively close to the school, he has no idea where Oliver lives. But Oliver shows up none-the-less, on time as he always is, wearing one of the same shirts and ties Connor has seen him in before. Today, Connor has opted for a button down, but no tie, since he wasn’t quite sure of the nature of this meeting.

“Hey,” Connor says with a content smile.

“Hey,” Oliver says, seeming much more shy now that they aren’t in school. Connor briefly wonders how much of his bravado at school is an act he puts on every day.

They head to a seat, exchanging pleasantries as they read over the menu. Connor decides to get them a bottle of wine as a little test for himself - the more Oliver drinks, the more Oliver must like him…like him as more than just a pretty good history teacher.

After both of their first glasses of wine, Connor smiles happily over at Oliver, his face beginning to flush with heat as he gets a little bolder. “So you moved up here on your own?”

Oliver nods, pouring himself another glass, “Yeah. Just me. And my cat, Tiger.”

“You have a cat?” Connor says, amused.

He chuckles softly, “Yeah, I have a cat. I’ve had him for a few years. Ever since college.”

“That’s adorable,” Connor tells him with a wide grin - he can’t exactly imagine Oliver with a cat, but he thinks it must be a sight to see.

“Thanks?” Oliver says with a slight blush, “I think. I haven’t been called adorable in a long time.”

“Technically I called your cat adorable,” Connor teases, “Not you.”

“Oh, thanks for clearing that up,” he answers with a similar teasing grin.

Connor’s been wondering it for a while, for the past few weeks, but he doesn’t get up the courage to ask until they’re almost done with dinner, “If I ask you something personal...will you promise not to fire me?”

Oliver considers this for a moment, “I can’t exactly fire you. It’s a whole school board thing. There needs to be cause…”

“You know what I mean!” Connor says with a smile, knowing Oliver is kidding.

“I know, I know,” Oliver concedes, “I’m not going to tell.”

“Good,” Connor says with a nod, “So, um…is this kind of a date?”

“This is…whatever you want it to be,” Oliver says carefully.

“I would like it to be a date,” Connor tells him, “But…I’m gay, so…” Connor pauses, not entirely sure where he was going with that. 

“Good thing I’m gay too,” Oliver says, trying to be casual.

“Oh,” Connor says, relieved, “Good. So this is a real date.”

“A real date,” Oliver says with a large smile, raising his glass to ceremoniously toast with Connor.


End file.
